I remember seeing some skirting in an online store that clipped into metal 'holders' that were screwed into the wall. This allowed you to remove the skirting easily for decorating / wiring behind it etc etc. I cant for the life of me remember where I saw it - does anyone know about this stuff, and where I might be able to buy some ??
I don't think wiring behind skirting boards is allowed is it?
I think he was talking about cat5 network, audio etc, not mains. But I don't know the answer to the original question.
Not sure about mains wiring, but behind-the-skirting is a useful (and, I think, entirely legal) option for phone, network, speaker cables, etc.
Julian
The following is from
CONCEALING AND DISGUISING CABLES.
Sometimes there is no alternative to running a cable where it will be seen. There are many ways of "hiding" these cables. Several of the DIY stores sell a skirting board which is a clip on plastic cover which conceals the cables run around the base of the room. You can make your own version by removing the existing skirting board and fixing two battens for the top and bottom of the skirting board leaving a channel for the cables down the centre. Fix a thin plywood cover to the battens and add a decorative moulding along the top edge. Once painted it will look like normal skirting board.
yeh - I tried that first and didn't come up with anything. Maybe I dreamt it.. :(
I suppose what you want then is to find suitable fixings rather than the skirting itself.
BTW top posting makes it hard to preserve the sense of a thread.
Peter
Not sure if this answers the question, but I was able to make a temporary/improvised fixing using the clips that are supplied to attach kitchen plinths to the legs of cabinets. I had some spare curtain pole of appropriate diameter which I was able to wedge into the gap between the floorboards the the bottom of the plaster, clips went onto the back of the skirting boards ...
A bit of a kludge, but made the room look reasonably "finished" for a couple of months before doing the final fixing (screws).
HTH Julian
When do skirting boards become trunking? i.e. how much air gap do you need?
What reason (if any) is there for not running power cables behind skirting boards? Is it because of the potential heat build up, or because some future owner may put a nail or a screw through it?
I was planning on running a ring main and an Ethernet LAN behind skirting boards, but with a reasonable air gap.
I am aware that it is not advisable to have power sockets in low skirting boards because of the problem with fitting cables out of plugs between the socket and the floor, but presumably high skirtings are O.K.?
TIA Dave R
Have a look in B&Q - a company called "Richard Burbidge" do it.
There web site is *not* very good for info - so looking in the store is best bet:
-- Phil
I think it's because in a build, the cables are usually run first-fix and the skirting boards fitted second fix, by which time plastering has been done, probably over the cable, and if it's in the line of skirting board it is very likely to get a nail through it. However, if you can run the cable 50mm below the surface it's ok, or less than 50mm below the surface if it's in an earthed metal conduit.
Regarding heat build-up, burying a cable in plaster or clipping it to a plastered wall doesn't really count as plaster is "conductive" to heat for the purposes of the calculations.
Don't have them to hand, but I seem to remember that that is qualified; you can have the cables closer so long as all cables are insulated to the required level for the one carrying the highest voltage. You can also get them closer by physically separating them - this is why office-style "dado"-trunking systems have several different compartments
- the cables may actually be closer together than 50mm, but are separated by a bit of plastic so it doesn't matter.
Regarding the height of sockets, the overriding legislation appears now to be the Building Regulations related to access for disabled persons or persons with limited reach. To comply with this (and compliance is not always neccessary), all sockets and switches (incl. telephone sockets and light switches) should be installed in a band between 450mm and
1200mm above the finished floor level - i.e. not closer to the floor than 450mm and not further away than 1200mm.HTH
Hwyl!
Martin.
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